Bishops But What Kind?

From the book's back page: It is widely agreed that any united Church of the future must be episcopal. All reunion schemes between episcopal and non-episcopal churches provide for this; it is an essential feature of the current proposals for a Covenant for unity between a number of British churches. However, it is by no means clear what the churches which at present have no acknowledged bishops are being asked to take on; and in churches which have episcopacy in the historic succession, there is widespread dissatisfaction with how episcopacy works in practice. The purpose of this book is to clarify the whole subject by presenting a series of reflections on episcopacy as practiced in very different situations throughout the world. The contributors, all leading figures in their own churches, include Roman Catholics from Spain, France and Holland, a Greek Orthodox, an Old Catholic, a Coptic Christian, Lutherans from Scandinavia and Germany, and a bishop from the Church of South India, as well as representatives of Anglican episcopacies in England and in East Africa. Contributors are: Kallistos Ware, Louis Bouyer, J. Visser, Olegario Gonzales de Cardedal, G. H. Bebawi, Fredric Cleve, Hermann Dietzfelbinger, Joseph Lescrauwaet, J. R. H. Moorman, Leslie Brown and Lesslie Newbigin.